It's worth noting that ambient occlusion is meant to occlude only ambient lighting, not direct lighting. If you multiply/overlay it with your diffuse textures, they'll ALWAYS be darkened/brightened regardless of the lighting. Think of a sofa with soft cushions. The ao will darken the crevices between the cushions, which is…
An illustration of why ao should not be done on Diffuse textures... From Zap Anderson's The Joy of a little "Ambience" http://mentalraytips.blogspot.com/2008/11/joy-of-little-ambience.html